Distributor conveyer



May 10, 1932. J. J WALLACE I DISTRIBUTOR CONVEYER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1Jwuemtoz Filed April 1, 1951 l I l l ll Lilll lfi lirl 1 y 1932- -J. .1.WALLACE 1,857,898

DISTRIBUTOR CONVEYER Filed April 1, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 3W tie/Fr I].WaZZace @W WW Q znirraafr Joni: WALLACE,

"distribute cotton 'to any desired number o1 Patented May 10, 1932 orAMITE, Louisiana; ass rotten. To nemy, or AMITE, LOUISIANA s men em conmi ies mam a Application filed April 1, 1981."

This invention relates to improvements in, belt conveyers adapted foruse in d strrbu tors for a series of cotton gins.

The main'object of the invention is to pro "vide'a distributor conveyerbuilt up' in sec- 1 in any tions of standard length which'can bereadilyconnected to each-other or disconnected from each other toprovidea distributor conveyer'of any desired length and adapted tostruction as to render the parts thereof readily accessible forreplacement or repair.

Other objects of the invention will become apparent as the detaileddescription thereof proceeds, i In the drawings: Figure 1 is a sideelevation of the distributor conveyer adapted to be applied to a seriesof gins; Figure 2 is a plan of the conveyerillustrated' in Figure 1; I ai I t Figure 3 is a centrallongitudinal section through the conveyerillustrated in'Figures 1" Figured is a fragmentary front elevation to anenlarged scale of a central section for connecting different sectionsof-the conveyers to each other; 1

Figure 5 is a vertical transverse section taken on the line 5--5 ofFigure 4;

Figure 6 is a side elevation to an enlarged scale of a belt tighteningadjusting mechanism forming part of this invention;

Figure is avertical longitudinal section taken on the line 77 of Figure6; and

' Figure 8 is a perspective view of one of the side plates of theaforesaid central section. Asshown'in the drawings, theinventioricomprisesa casing l 'having side walls'2 and 3, suitably spaced'apartbybottom'sections 4 to provide discharge openings 5' adapted to feedcotton from the said casing into the" hoppers 6 with. The sides 2 and 3are formed of stiff sheet metal and have their upper edges suitleadingto the gin connected there 1 apart the same admire-$21,010;

ably fianged to receive a cover 7 The casing i maybe made up of anydesired number of sections having theirl'ends suitably flanged andprovided with means for connectingone sectionfto another The number ofsections distributor. outfit will depend upon a the number of by thesaid distributor, 7

In Figures 1a (1' 2'of the drawings the distributor is shown ascomprisin g three mainbuilt up in as many separate parts as may befoundconvenient' for handling. The sec tion'A is shown as provided atone end with bearings 8' an'd9 for a driving shaft 10, the

said bearings being suitably'secured to the 7 side walls 2and'3 of thesection A.

The-center section Bhas' reinforcing plates 11 and 12 attached to thesides thereof by riveting ;or welding in order to stiffen the sides ofthis section. The platell and the side of the section to which it isattached, are provided with slots 13through which extend a shaft 14suitably journaled in hearings to" be described hereinafter-J Thereinforcing plate 1 1 'has Z-shaped members I spa'cedapart on'oppositesides of the slot 12-! and parallel thereto in order to receive ahousing 17'- towhich the bearings 18 and 19 are suitably secured. F

The housing 17 s; slidably mounted between the Z-shaped'members 15 and16 in or-- der to provide for tensioning the conveyer belt-by suitableadjustment of the said hous- -'ing and the' shaft car'ried thereby inone di- IQCtlOII or'another on thesaid center sec-- Asimilarpair ofZ-shaped members 20 and '21 are secured suitably to the reinforcing"1ates-12 and parallel to the slot 22 formed in the plate 12; and theside2 of the center section B.

. the housing 17 3 is shdably mounted between: theZ-shaped members-'20and 21 and bear-5 and 125 are suitably formedonuthev ings 24 H housing23for the shafts 14 and-26 which extend slidably: through the slots 13 and22 Thebearings on the housing 23 are spaced distance as the bearings onthe housing -17-so that the shafts 114. and 26 l;

ins intended to be supplied a '00 sect1onsA,-B and G, eachof which maybe15 and 16 A housing 23 similar to p a shaft moving the cotton along thecasing 1. The

are constantly parallel to each other and at a fixed distance apart.

A conveyer belt pulley 27 is fixed to the and a similar pulley 28 isfixed to the shaft 14, the said conveyer belt 30 being provided with theusual steel spikes 29 for shaft 10 is the driving shaft and the shaft 14may be shifted lengthwise ofthe slots in the sides of the centersection-B to the tension of the conveyer, belt 30.*

The end of the section G remote from the center section B has the sidesthereof provided with reinforcing plates 31 and 3.2 suit.- ably rivetedor welded to thesides' 2 and 3 of the section C. These reinforcingplates and the opposite sides of the section G are slotted to permitlengthwise adjustment of'the shaft 33 toward and from the center sectionThe bearings34 and 3.5 for the shaft 33 are.

mounted in the furcations 36 and 37 of a. yoke member 38; The oppositesides of the section C are nrovided with Z-shaped rein.- forcingmembers. similar to those onthe center section to permit the slidingmovement of the furcations 36. and 37 of the yokememberr Y j The shaft.33 carries a pulley 39; and a conveyer belt 40 extends around thispulley and 41 which is. suitably secured 1 around a pulley to the shaft26, of the center section B. The belt 40 is provided with spikes similarto those of the belt 30 and serves the same purpose.

The yoke 38 is provided with a boss 42 in which the head 43 of ascrewthreaded bolt 44 is suitably secured... The bolt 44 extends freelythroughan aperture 45 in a wall 46 having its opposite ends suitablysecured to the side walls 2 and 3 (see Figure 7). 1 A nut 48 is threadedonto the bolt .4 and is prov vided with an annular groove 49 whichretains the nut rotatably in the aperture 45 of the wall 46. The nut 48has a bevel gear- 5'() 7 formed thereon; and this bevel gear 50 mesheswith a similar gear 51 which is secured to the end of the shaft 52suitably jour. naled in the wall 3, of the section C and in a bracewhich extends across the Z-shaped members on the reinforcing: plate 31,".The

shaft 52 has a hand wheel 54; secured to the end thereof, the said handwheel being adapted by its rotation to operate the bevel gear 50 and nut48 for adjusting the yoke 38 in one direction or the other to regulatethe ten? sion of the conveyer belts.

ings, the shafts. 14 and 26 are provided with sprockets-55 and 5,6,respectively, which are connected operably to. eachother byan end- 41and thereby move both shafts and 1.4;

regulate the d rawin gs,

. tribution over-said drum.

to tighten the belt 30. It will be obvious, too, that the shaft 10drives the conveyer belt 30 and through the sprocket wheels 55 and 56and chain 57 also drive the conveyer belt 40 and in the same direction.

The hoppers 6 are provided with any suitable valves to, control the flowof cotton from the, conveyer distributor; but preferably are providedwith valves and valve operating mechanism of the type disclosed andclaimed in-my copending application for distributor hopper, fierial No.524,372, filed March 21, 1931. As shown particularly in Figure 5 of thisvalve control comprises a pair of plates 58 and 59 rotatably mounted bymeans of theshafts 60 and 61 in recesses 62 and 63 formed in the lowerpart of the hop=-' per 6. These valves are normally opened and areadapted to be closed manually by any suitable form of linkage to shutoff the flow of cotton through the hopper 6 when desired,

The valve plates 558 meet substantially at the center of the hopper 6and when opened drop the cotton through the center of the hopper 6 ontothe center of the feeder drum to produce a uniform dis? The mounting ofthevalve plates in the recesses permits an unobstructed flow of thecotton when the valves are in open position as shown in Figure 5 of thedrawings.

The upper stretch of each conveyer belt is supported by a plate or board64 which is secured between the sides 2 and 3 of the casing 1 in anysuitable manner. This board is made of wood or any suitable insulatingmaterial in order to prevent the spikes in the distributor belt fromcoming in contact with any metallic part which might cause sparks andthereby set fire to the inflammable material passing through theconveyer casing. The lower side or bottom of the casing is formed ofboards 4 for the same reason, that is, to prevent the tips of the metalspikes from contacting with any metallic parts which would also cause afire in the contents of the casing.

The manufacture of the casing in sheet metal lends itself to ease ofconstruction and to permanency of the structure, while the arrangementof insulating material wherever there is danger of metallic parts comingin contact with each other, diminishes fire hazard thereby retaining allthe advantages. of a metallic construction with those of the p ordinarywooden type of distributor. As clearly shown m Figure 2 of the draw- Theparticular valve arrangement illustrated in Figure 5 of the drawings isof great advantage inasmuch as it delivers the cotton to the center ofthe feeder drum, allowing a greater spread ofthe cotton as it is carriedover the screen'in the back; of the feeder, thereby permitting bettercleaning and less opportunity for choking the feeder.

While I have shown only two distributor nd 59, when closed,

belts in the same casing, it will be quite obvious that the number ofbelts will depend upon the number of gins to be fed by the conveyersystem; and it is obvious that the section may be multipliedindefinitely so long as the last section is provided with a belttightening device while the intermediate sections are connected to eachother by idlers and drive sections similar to the center secm tion B. 1

What I claim is: 1. An endless belt couveyer distributor comprising asheet metal casing, a pulley journaled in one end of said casing, meansfor rotating said pulley, the other end of said casing having the sidewalls thereof provided with slots, a pulley mounted to slide in saidslots, means for moving the la st named pulley in said slots, theopposite walls of said casing intermediate the ends thereof beingprovided with slots, a pair of pulleys slidably and rotatably mounted inthe last named slot, means for connecting said pulleys to maintain themin parallelism and at a fixed distance apart during their slidingmovement, and means for rotatably connecting one of said pair of pulleysto the other.

2. An endless belt conveyer distributor comprising a sheet metal casinghaving a cen- 50 ter section detachably connected to the remainingsections of said casing, a reinforcing plate connected to each wall ofsaid center section, guideways mounted on the opposite reinforcingplate, housings slidably in each guideway, and a pair of pulleysjournaled in said housings parallel to each other, and means forimparting the rotation of one pulley to the other. 7

3. In a conveyer distributor in which a 40 plurality of endless beltconveyers are associated in alignment, a combined driving and drivenconnecting unit comprising two parallel spaced shafts,'conveyer pulleyson said shafts. side members each having spaced journals for saidshafts, means for mounting said side members to slide in alignment withthe conveyer belts and driving means associating said shafts.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

so JEFFREY JOHN WALLACE.

